Antiques with golden eyes

Shangshu Town is considered a big town in the entire Dongjiang City.

The total area is more than 500 square kilometers, which is comparable to some smaller counties.

The mountains and rivers are beautiful, the rivers are as dense as spider webs, and the lakes and ponds are dotted here and there.

There are also many ancient buildings, and every holiday, there are huge crowds of tourists.

Usually, there are also many crews filming costume dramas who come to shoot the scenes.

There is a crew filming today, so there is some traffic jam on the road.

Yu Maolin spent 10 yuan to find a parking space, and then stood with Shen Yu in front of the Shangshu Monument, waiting for the seller to pick him up.

The seller's name is Lao Zhou, an old native in the town. His ancestors produced a flower-hunting man in the Ming Dynasty, and two Jinshi and three Juren in the Qing Dynasty. My ancestors were very honored.

Yu Maolin had already done a lot of research on the seller's background before coming here. It was all true and not fake.

It’s still unclear whether it’s a game or not, but judging from the seller’s ancestral glory, it’s well worth a visit.

Yu Maolin wore a pair of big sunglasses, twirling an agarwood bracelet and said with a smile, "Shen Yu, this stele of ministers has a history of more than 800 years. It has been weathered by wind, water and rain for nearly a thousand years, but the handwriting on it is still clear. It is really rare. Ah!"

Although Shen Yu was born and raised in Dongjiang and has been to Shangshu Town several times, he has never looked at this Shangshu monument carefully.

Since I have nothing to do now, it would be a good idea to do some research.

This stone tablet is about two meters high and about three and a half feet wide. It has more than 2,000 characters densely engraved in official script on both sides.

It is roughly written about the story of a certain official in the Song Dynasty who loved the people like a son and solved strange cases in Shangshu Town with his integrity.

The strange case written above is very interesting.

It is said that during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, a scholar in Dongjiang picked up a heavy baggage on the street. When he opened it, he found fifty taels of silver inside.

Although fifty taels of silver was not a huge amount of money at that time, it was still quite a lot.

In the Song Dynasty, one tael of silver could buy about 200 kilograms of rice. Calculated according to the price of rice, one tael of silver was equivalent to seven to eight hundred yuan today, and fifty taels of silver was equivalent to 35,000-40,000 yuan.

The scholar was kind-hearted and did not take it for himself. Instead, he waited for the owner where he was.

It took more than two hours before a merchant selling medicinal materials hurriedly came to him and said that he had dropped the baggage.

After the scholar asked about the color of the baggage, the silver coins and other sundries inside, he returned the baggage to the merchant.

But the merchant was a little greedy. He knew that the scholar's family had quite a lot of money, so he counterattacked and said that there were two hundred taels of silver in the baggage, but now it was missing one hundred and fifty taels, and he had to let the scholar explain.

It is equivalent to saying that the scholar swallowed one hundred and fifty taels of it.

Scholars gave various explanations, but merchants just didn’t listen.

Later, an old man who was watching suggested that the two men go to the county government office and let the county magistrate resolve the case.

The minister was still the county magistrate at the time. He knew the scholar's character, so he asked his subordinate Dian Shi to investigate the merchant. The result was that all the merchant's property was sold and not enough for two hundred taels. It was obviously a false accusation.

So the county magistrate said to the merchant: "Since you lost two hundred taels of silver, this baggage is not yours. Your baggage should have been picked up by someone else. This baggage will be kept by the scholar for the time being. You should quickly find your baggage now."

Go!"

The merchant was in great distress. This baggage belonged to him. How could he find another one?

So I quickly knelt down and prayed to take this burden back first.

The county magistrate was furious: "It's not yours, how can you take it away? Why, do you still want me to punish you for false claims?"

After saying that, I will serve you with thirty boards.

Thirty big boards can kill people, so the merchants were so frightened that they could not care about their money, so they could only leave in disbelief.

The county magistrate gave the scholar the fifty taels of silver.

The scholar didn't ask for the money, so he bought a lot of rice and grain with it and distributed it to the poor that day.

It’s a very happy ending.

Shen Yu was watching with great interest, but a very old voice came from behind him.

"Oops, I'm sorry to keep these two distinguished guests waiting for so long!"

It’s no one else but Lao Zhou, the seller.

In fact, Lao Zhou is not very old, only less than sixty, but his hair has turned gray and he looks older than his actual age, but his eyes are bright and lively, indicating that he is in good health.

He was wearing a very ordinary jacket and trousers, and his leather shoes were peeling in places. He looked like a very frugal person.

He came here on a motorcycle tricycle, which was thoughtfully equipped with two small benches.

Yu Maolin and Shen Yu looked at each other, and Yu Maolin said: "Old Zhou, how far is your home from here?"

Lao Zhou smiled honestly, "I don't want to, just go into the alley in front and walk more than three hundred meters to get there."

Shen Yu coughed lightly and said, "Since it's not far, let's walk there or take a walk! Just think of it as exercise. Sitting all day long makes your body really tired."

"Okay, let's all walk there!" Lao Zhou locked the motorcycle tricycle on the side of the road and took the three of them home.

Lao Zhou's house is a house with blue bricks and blue tiles, with two entrances. In front of the main entrance is a large peach grove, and behind the yard there is a very clear river.

Coupled with the several giant locust trees at the door that are hundreds of years old, the atmosphere of an old house suddenly rises.

"My family is short of money recently. My eldest son has taken a fancy to a second-hand villa in Dongjiang City. The down payment alone costs millions. I have only grown fruits and vegetables my whole life. How can I have so much money? I heard that Boss Yu collects antiques.

The price is the most reasonable, so I asked the villagers in Qiancun for your contact information and called you immediately."

As he spoke, Lao Zhou opened the courtyard door and made a gesture of invitation.

This cannot be said carefully.

A closer look actually means that Yu Maolin was taken advantage of.

He was so unjust that someone even called him to sell him antiques.

Yu Maolin didn't hear the implication at all, and he slapped his chest. "As long as it is genuine, you don't have to worry about the money at all. I dare not say that the price I gave to Yu Maolin is the best in Jiangnan, but as long as it comes out, There are more people than me who are more experienced than me and just leave without saying a word, absolutely without any fuss!"

When I opened the door, I saw a lot of people in the yard. Five or six women were wiping some old furniture with rags in their hands.

Lao Zhou smiled and said: "Let's go to the wing to take a look first. There are several old furniture in good condition, which were handed down from our ancestors."

Yu Maolin liked ancient furniture very much and nodded in agreement.

"Snake!"

I don’t know who exclaimed.

Shen Yu turned his head and saw that it was a green snake more than two feet long that emerged from the weeds somewhere in the courtyard.

What's interesting is that with so many people in the yard, this green snake wasn't afraid at all. Instead, it swaggered around and crawled in the yard.

Lao Zhou said with a smile: "Don't be afraid, the snake is not poisonous. It will crawl to the fruit forest in front of you in a while."

Shen Yu was not afraid, but he keenly discovered that the green snake seemed to be afraid of a black wooden pillar in the yard.

At first, the green snake seemed to be patrolling its own territory, but then it crawled to a black wooden pillar at the door of Lao Zhou's main house. Suddenly, it seemed as if someone had stepped on its tail and it bounced up on the spot.